JAKOB BRO - Returnings
ECM 670 5850
Jakob Bro: guitar; Palle Mikkelborg: trumpet, flugelhorn; Thomas Morgan: double bass; Jon Christensen: drums.
Recorded July 2016 by Manfred Eicher at Rainbow Studio, Oslo
The title track of this set is a composition by Bro and Mikkelborg. The main theme, created by Mikkelborg, is based on the letters E-C-M and Manfred Eicher’s name (much as he had done on the pieces on Miles Davis ‘Aura’). In this tune, the effects- inflected trumpet, the ghostly guitar and light wash of electronics create a timeless tune that seems to call fragments of tune and suggestions of playing style from across ECM’s history. Each time I listen to it, I seem to hear additional pieces in this aural tapestry. So, perhaps the CD’s title refers to the idea of returning to different points in Eicher’s stewardship of the label. It also refers to revisiting Bro’s own work, and two of the tracks are reworkings of pieces from the ‘Gefion’ CD (the opening track, ‘Oktober’ and ‘Lyskaster’, track 5). On this set, his combination with Mikkelborg’s muted tones make for a meditative and atmospheric soundscape. But this is not simply about the pairing of guitar and trumpet. Track 6, ‘Hamsun’, is a duet between Bro and Morgan, dedicated to the Norwegian novelist Knut Hamsun (and originally composed for Kenny Wheeler to play – so it’s translation to guitar and bass is fascinating). The longest track in the set, ‘View’ (track 4) begins with drum and bass working up a hypnotic, if unpredictable improvisation before they are joined midway by the others. As Bro points out in his liner notes, ‘This is really a collaborative album…Musically, any one of us could be considered the leader’, and you get the sense that, outside the composed lines, much of the set is improvised, weaving a softly textured collection.
Reviewed by Chris Baber
ECM 670 5850
Jakob Bro: guitar; Palle Mikkelborg: trumpet, flugelhorn; Thomas Morgan: double bass; Jon Christensen: drums.
Recorded July 2016 by Manfred Eicher at Rainbow Studio, Oslo
The title track of this set is a composition by Bro and Mikkelborg. The main theme, created by Mikkelborg, is based on the letters E-C-M and Manfred Eicher’s name (much as he had done on the pieces on Miles Davis ‘Aura’). In this tune, the effects- inflected trumpet, the ghostly guitar and light wash of electronics create a timeless tune that seems to call fragments of tune and suggestions of playing style from across ECM’s history. Each time I listen to it, I seem to hear additional pieces in this aural tapestry. So, perhaps the CD’s title refers to the idea of returning to different points in Eicher’s stewardship of the label. It also refers to revisiting Bro’s own work, and two of the tracks are reworkings of pieces from the ‘Gefion’ CD (the opening track, ‘Oktober’ and ‘Lyskaster’, track 5). On this set, his combination with Mikkelborg’s muted tones make for a meditative and atmospheric soundscape. But this is not simply about the pairing of guitar and trumpet. Track 6, ‘Hamsun’, is a duet between Bro and Morgan, dedicated to the Norwegian novelist Knut Hamsun (and originally composed for Kenny Wheeler to play – so it’s translation to guitar and bass is fascinating). The longest track in the set, ‘View’ (track 4) begins with drum and bass working up a hypnotic, if unpredictable improvisation before they are joined midway by the others. As Bro points out in his liner notes, ‘This is really a collaborative album…Musically, any one of us could be considered the leader’, and you get the sense that, outside the composed lines, much of the set is improvised, weaving a softly textured collection.
Reviewed by Chris Baber
